Sunday, August 9, 2009

There is so much to talk about from this weekend. On the personal side of things, I had a great cross training session on Saturday on the stair master and treadmill. Sunday saw a return trip to the Turkey Swamp 50k. At last year's event (see 2008 Turkey Swamp 50k Race Report), lightning forced an abrupt end to the race after I had completed about 26 miles. The course is run on a loop of approximately 2.6 miles (12 total loops, the first one being a bit longer and the last one a bit shorter). The course is run on dirt roads, single-track trail (with some roots), and grass. A course change this year resulted in a substantial increase in the grassy sections, and a reduction in the single-track trail sections. The first 17.5 miles went very well, almost too fast. The last 13-14 miles were a chore in the heat and humidity. Overall, it was a good assessment of where I stand with respect to recovering from Badwater.

Now to the really cool stuff. At Turkey Swamp, Dave James returned and successfully defended his title with a sub-4 hour finish. Wayne and I spent a ton of time together on the course (running the entire thing together). We also spent some time with Susan W. (who had a great run thanks to our kindness in pointing out that she did NOT have another loop to go, despite what the lap-counters said, as she lapped us), and got to see Marge and Peter L. Amazing, even with a timing system, things just didn't go right for the lap counters. Many of the runners ended up putting in an extra loop. Wayne and I realized early on that they had miscounted our laps (they had me one ahead of him - plus the GPS didn't support where they said we were), and we were lucky enough to get it corrected. Several others did not, and ended up running 33+ miles. Kind of crazy, but I suppose it happens. Oh, and then there is Steve Tursi. This guys is just great. He came all the way out to volunteer and was just a wonderful help - always going the extra mile for the runners. The sport of ultra running never ceases to amaze me with all of the people who are so willing lend a hand. Thanks Steve, and see you at the Tetons (if not at Bear Mountain sooner).

A few friends were running the Headlands Hundred (50 and 100 milers) in California this weekend. In the 100, Badwater crew-member Brian Krogmann was amazing with a 2nd place, 19:43:33 finish. Rick Gaston had a great race as well, finishing 9th in 22:06:30. In the 50-miler, Meredith Terranova recorded a 2nd place finish (10th overall) with a time of 8:34:32. Congrats to these folks and everyone else out there. This is one tough course, with 20,020 feet of elevation gain in the 100 (10,010 feet in the 50).

At the Viaduct Trail 100 Mile Run, Drymax athlete Dan Rose finished 3rd in 19:38:35. The great thing about Dan's run was the mobile audio posts that he put on his blog every 25 miles using Utterli. Using his cell phone, Dan could simply call the Utterli number, record his audio post, and SHAZAM!....its posted to his blog. It is really cool to listen to how things are going for him during the race - if you get a chance, head over and take a listen. I loved it so much that I signed up for Utterli and will try it out at some point.

Up next (in just a few weeks) will be the Grand Teton Races. I have run the 100-miler there the last two years. This year I'll run the 50 Mile on Saturday, September 5, and then run the Trail Marathon the following day with my wife (her first marathon - way to pick one with 5,000 feet of climbing as a first - all me).

Krogster got lost during the race, worse he came down a big hill only to have to climb back up to get back into the race. The guy is a riot, been hanging out with him since Friday. Headlands Hundred had great weather this year and the views spectacular. At night we had a full moon and the fog hung low so at the top of the hills we got to enjoy the views. You should come out one of these days, you would enjoy the Bay Area and HH.

Hey Anthony, I was one of the guys that ran over 33 miles yesterday! lol I showed my Garmin to the volunteers at the last checkpoint and I was already at 30.75 miles and they said they were aware that it was a long course and I still needed to complete a 12th lap. The loop was supposed to be 2.5 miles run 12 times = 30 miles plus the extra mile in the beginning. Obviously they measured the loop wrong, cause 12 full laps put me at 33.20 miles. Unfortunately it didnt show up correct on the results page either, because some racers that I know for sure did one less lap than me, showed up on the results ahead of me. Oh well, it was an interesting run, thats for sure. I met you and Wayne in Badwater, I crewed for Phil McCarthy. I had also met Wayne previously at Bear Mountain last year.

Bryon - Awesome. If I didn't already commit to running the trail marathon with Ginette, I'd be tempted to drop from the 50 and move up to the 100 so you could pace me!

Thanks Mark.

Rick - no way...I had no idea. He is a trip. I'd love to come out and do HH....maybe next year.

Mike - That's funny. There were quite a few folks that ended up going the extra mile (or 2.5 miles). Aware that it was a long course - too funny. Yeah, there is all sorts of results issues, but all in all it was a fun day. I remember meeting you at BW !